Suzuka will be the venue at which A2RL returns for its second event - with ex-Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat taking on an AI-driven car at the Japanese Grand Prix track in November.
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League garnered considerable attention with its inaugural event at Yas Marina Circuit in April 2024, where Kvyat turned demonstration laps against an AI-powered car and eight teams competed in front of 10,000 spectators for a share of $2.25 million USD.
After its debut in the UAE, public details regarding its second event were initially scarce. But now there's news that on November 9-10 2024, A2RL will return in front of Japanese audiences at Suzuka during the 2024 Super Formula finale.
In this event, Kvyat - who is currently competing in the World Endurance Championship for Lamborghini - will once again take on an autonomous car around the track. The series has dubbed this a ‘Man vs Machine’ showcase.
Kvyat easily passed the autonomous racing car in its first public demonstration at Yas Marina Circuit. While that event was billed as a race, it proved to be more of a showcase of the series’s potential, with the cars showing brief glimpses of speed amid a few technical issues.
The A2RL car is based on the Dallara SF23 chassis, the car that debuted in Super Formula in 2023. Instead of a driver, the A2RL car uses seven cameras, four radar sensors, three Lidar sensors, and a computer to provide throttle, brake, and steering inputs.
The series aims to further autonomous driving technology by using motorsport as a testbed, just as the Indy Autonomous Challenge is doing Stateside - using the Indy NXT car.
A2RL’s teams - which include university students from around the world - are currently testing in Japan in preparation for the second season of the league.
Juju Noda, the first Japanese woman to race in Super Formula, tested the car at Imola in August 2024 to gather data about vehicle dynamics and behaviour, which in turn was used to help the teams.
Super Formula’s CEO of Japan race promotion said that “The development of the SF23 has been one of the most significant programs in our organisation’s history, and we are proud to have been part of pioneering this new genre of AI racing using the SF23 platform.”
A2RL’s CEO Stephane Timpano added: “Pitting human against machine is the ultimate test for AI-driven technology, especially when racing against Daniil Kvyat, a former Formula 1 driver who knows this circuit so well. I have no doubt the fans are in for an electrifying showcase of autonomous racing at its best.”
Alongside Kvyat, Noda will continue to serve as the series’ development driver ahead of the second event in November.
The first event was livestreamed online to hundreds of thousands of viewers in April 2024.
While the final race of that event was punctuated by yellow and red flags as the AI-driven cars struggled to round the track together, months of preparation - including tests at Imola and Vallelunga - mean that A2RL’s teams might have made considerable progress in honing their AI vehicles.
